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Soft-spoken teenager all business as wrestler
By MORRIS DALLA COSTA --
London Free Press 7/16/2001
She's about as far from the image of a wrestler as one can imagine.
Stephanie Szmiett appears shy. She's soft-spoken, polite, family-focused and someone who knows the value of hard work. The 16-year-old also happens to be the 46-kilogram division Canadian juvenile champion in one of the toughest, most demanding sports there is.
She's nice.
But get her on a wrestling mat and . . .
"She's all business," said coach Marty Leeson. "She's very focused. She can accomplish a lot in the sport."
She's already accomplished a great deal. The Petrolia Lambton Central student is heading into Grade 12. Her pedigree is impressive. It culminates with what will be a trip to the junior girls' world wrestling championships in Switzerland the middle of August, one of eight Canadian women making the trip.
Soft-spoken she may be but there's little question about her ability as a grappler.
Check out her other accomplishments. She began wrestling three years ago at the high school level. She won a bronze medal at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations that first year. The following two years she won gold. She was a member of the Lambton Central OFSAA championship team for 2001 and the most valuable wrestler at the Lambton County wrestling tournament and SWOSSAA. She was undefeated in high school competition in the 2000-2001 season.
As a member of the Sarnia Amateur Wrestling Club, she is the two-time Canadian cadet champ, the provincial juvenile and junior champion in 2001, a silver medallist at the Canadian juvenile championships in Saskatoon; winner of her weight class at the world junior tryouts in Vancouver; and she placed second at the Canada Cup in Calgary wrestling for the national junior team.
While some regard wrestling as somewhat of a novelty when it involves women, the novelty is wearing off. More and more women like the discipline, challenge and individuality the sport offers. Szmiett was aware of the sport long before she hit high school. Her brother Bobby, 20, competed at the Canadian championships. Her sister Jeanette, 19, also wrestled. Stephanie works out with her other brother Brian, who is 15.
"My brother and sister said that wrestling was a lot of fun so I figured I'd try it out," she said. "I was kind of iffy at first because I was playing soccer, but I went to the first practice and I've been at it every since."
Szmiett likes the intensity and dedication the sport brings out, not only in her but the others involved in it.
"It's the longest season of any sport," she said. "You don't see anyone come out just for the heck of it. They eventually die off."
Dedication and success are often words tossed around by athletes and those who deal with athletes. In Szmiett's case, the words fit her as perfectly as tight wrestling skins.
Besides working out three times a week on the wrestling mat, she holds down a job at an Arkona fruit farm, a 10-hour-a-day job that takes her an hour to get to by bicycle. She also participates in her family's farm operation south of Arkona (chickens, animals, crops and a blueberry patch.)
"I don't like not doing something. I like my day busy," Szmiett said. "I've spent a lot of time away from home. I have work and everything and the blueberries have come on.
"Mom and dad wish I could be home a little more to help."
But her family is supportive of her endeavours. They are in the process of building a big home that still needs to be finished inside.
The Szmietts have made a training room out of their unfinished living room. It's quite a site. A gorgeous cathedral ceiling spans a wall with huge windows and wall-to-wall wrestling mats.
"I want to do well," Szmiett said. "I also want to do well for my dad because he really likes it and gets enjoyment out of watching me.
"I hate it when he brags to people about me, though. It gets really annoying. But seeing him happy and everything . . . ."
The worlds will be tough competition. She'll be wrestling against competitors who may be as much as three years older than she is, and while Szmiett has goals, she'll take things as they come.
"I didn't think it would take me this far," she said. "I just thought it would be a high school thing and when I got out I would go to college and university and it would just stop there."
It seems there's little chance of that.
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HMB wrestler Fulp-Allen goes international
August 08, 2001
WHEN LAST WE left off, Half Moon Bay's Sarah Fulp-Allen had conquered boys and high school wrestling all in one shot.
The junior won the Peninsula Athletic League title in the 105-pound division, was voted the Lightweight MVP of the tournament, and claimed the inaugural girls state meet title at 103 pounds as well.
It was quite a winter for the female wrestler. But once summer rolled around, Fulp-Allen began searching in earnest for new worlds to conquer.
She had to settle for continents. The 16-year-old wrestling wonder recently came back from Poland on a trip with the United States Cadet national team. She was instrumental in leading her team to a fifth-place finish. Fulp-Allen took third in the 101-pound division of the Polish Open Major International Tournament for women.
Needless to say, this was a far cry from high school action. The Polish Open attracts dozens of athletes (108 of them, actually) from all over the world including such wrestling heavyweights as Russia, Sweden, and Canada.
Yet there was Fulp-Allen up to her usual tricks -- pinning, outpointing and winning. The fact that she was the youngest in her weight class going up against women aged 18 to 31, for instance, never even crossed her mind.
"The first girl I wrestled was 18, the second was 21, the third was 22 and the last was either 18 or 19," Fulp-Allen said matter-of-factly. "But it's just like any other sport, a 30-year-old can be slower than an 18-year-old."
Prior to the tournament, Fulp-Allen spent a number of days in Gdansk where she took part in an international training camp for the various teams. Activities included running at 7 a.m., working out twice a day, and taking in the scenery at the neighboring beach.
"The training was really neat because it gives you a chance to wrestle most of the people who are going to be in the tournament," Fulp-Allen said. "It was just like any other wrestling camp you go to during the summer, but it was fun because we stayed at the Olympic training center."
Fulp-Allen's Polish adventures are just the latest in a long line of her national and international expeditions. The day before the Polish Open, the U.S. wrestled a Polish team in a dual meet which the Poles won 5-2.
Fulp-Allen and teammate Keristen LaBelle -- who competes in the 112-pound division -- were the only Americans to record a win.
In early June, Fulp-Allen knocked off her Polish Open teammate Amantha Hordagoda to bring home her second consecutive national championship in the Cadet (17 and under) division.
Back in March, Fulp-Allen traveled with a National Cadet team to Klippon, Sweden, for the International Klippon Cup. Fulp-Allen handily won the Cadet Division, then entered the senior competition where she took fourth and established herself as a force to be reckoned with for the 2004 Olympics.
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Palo Duro Lady Dons Capture high School National Wrestling Championship
texaswrestler.com 5/2001
At the Untied States Girls Wrestling Association National Champions, held in Lake Orion, Michigan this past March, the Palo Duro Lady Dons captured the national title. When the final results were tabulated the lady Dons had earned 104 points. Second place was Napa High School (Vintage, Ca) with 99 points. Third place went to Eureka High (Eureka, Ca) with 94.5 points. Earning the national championship closed out a perfect season for Palo Duro.
Five Lady Dons received All-American status. These include heavyweights Dyana McIntyre (third place) and Juanetta McCampell (7th place), 165 lbers Casey Britain ( 4th place) and Chaleb Bowie (5th place) and 122 lber Lauren Lindsey (6th place). Janice Gooden (117 lbs) dislocated her shoulder in the opening match and could not finish the tournament.
Congratulations Lady Dons and Coach Steve Nelson. Keep up the good work and good luck this season.